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Sue Freemantle, 37, a mother of five who started the group, said: ‘Our lives have been put in danger. Vauxhall has been desperately trying to cover it up. It’s disgusting.’

Jacqueline Young, of law firm Slater and Gordon which represents Zafira owners, said: ‘At best, Vauxhall has been woefully incompetent. At worst, they have sought to conceal a potentially life-endangering technical fault.’

Mrs Freemantle’s car burst into flames outside her home in Ivybridge, Devon, with three of her children inside. Luckily nobody was hurt.

The manufacturer recalled all 234,938 Zafira B cars in December after reports of 200 fires

TUMBLE DRYER WARNING

Millions of lives are being put in danger by a failed recall and repair regime relating to fire-risk tumble dryers, say consumer watchdogs.

Owners have been told they must wait at least six months for their machine to be checked according to a survey by Which?.

As many as 5.8million suspect machines were sold under the Indesit, Hotpoint and Creda brands – now controlled by US-owned Whirlpool. The problem is caused by fluff that accumulates near the dryer’s heating element, where it can catch fire.

But Which? said customers faced delays, confusion and a lack of information that could, potentially, put lives at risk.

Whirlpool said safety was its priority and it was recruiting extra engineers for what it described as a ‘considerable’ task. It was committed to carrying out the checks ‘in a safe and timely manner’.

The healthcare assistant set up the group last year with Claire Wheatley, 36, and Jade Hellewell, 26. They were joined by Jo Hunt and her husband Dan, one of the electrical engineers. The group now has 14,500 members.

Among the owners whose cars caught light after being cleared in the first recall were Craig Hemmings, 32, and wife Sallie Ann, 29, from Peterborough. Footage showed their car engulfed in flames.

The mothers’ claim about the design flaw was backed up by an independent report by forensic engineers, commissioned by The Sun.

The campaign group says there have been more than 300 fires, at least 15 of which were in cars that had been recalled.

The London Fire Brigade has attended 120 Zafira fires since 2013, including 14 this year. Tory MP Huw Merriman said he will bring Vauxhall bosses before MPs to be quizzed about the ‘alarming’ situation.

Vauxhall will invite owners in for the recall in August and said they should not use the heating or fan. It said it has decided to improve the ‘robustness of the system’ after ‘extensive investigations’.